March
1, 1962 - American Airlines B-707 took off from Idlewild Airport
(now JFK) for Los Angeles with 87 passengers and a crew of 8. Making a
right turn over Queens, the jet banked too far, flipped 90 degrees,
and began an upside-down, nose-first descent in a nearly vertical dive into the water only
50' from the shore.
(95 Fatalities)

An improper maintenance technique resulted in internal wiring damage
and rudder failure causing the jet to nose-dive into Jamaica Bay.

The
FAA's mission of promoting safety in the airspace above America
communicated with all B-707 operators to inform them of the
potential danger of the cotter pin and bolt assembly in the B-707
rudder.

May 22, 1962 - An explosion (dynamite detonation in a rear lavatory) blew
the tail off of a Continental Airlines B-707, from
ORD to
Kansas city,over southern
Iowa. (45 Fatalities)

The pilot deviated from his filed flight plan to avoid a line of
thunderstorms. The aircraft broke up and the main part of the fuselage was
found about 6 miles northwest of Unionville, MO.

Initial reports assumed the aircraft broke apart by a tremendous force -
possibly a tornado or extremely heavy turbulence. However FBI agents
discovered that a man had purchased a life insurance policy for $150,000.
plus another insurance policy for $150,000. He had recently been arrested
for armed robbery and was facing a hearing in the matter. It was also
found that this man had purchased dynamite shortly before the crash, and
that a bomb had been placed in a rear lavatory. (Suicide-for-insurance
plot)

June, 1962 - Dulles
International Airport opening ceremonies by both President Kennedy and
former President Eisenhower, and Najeeb Halaby.

In October the Pittsburgh ARTCC was transferred to
Cleveland ARTCC - (ZOB at
Oberlin, OH).

During
the Cold War there was a continuing state of military tension between the
Western world and the Communist world, led by the Soviet Union. The FAA,
recognizing the possibility that an atomic bomb could be used to disrupt
the safety of air travel, relocated many of the ARTCC's away from
Metropolitan areas. Chicago ARTCC was moved from Chicago's Midway Airport
to Aurora, IL.

"Shrimp
Boats" were pieces of plastic with the aircraft call sign/tail number
written on them with a grease pencil. The 'shrimp boat' would be placed on
top of a horizontal radar screen and pushed along the scope on top of the
radar beacon representing the aircraft.

Horizontal PVD - (with 'Shrimp Boats')

Plan View Display - (PVD)

A Ratheon CDC 19-inch circular radar scope.Initially used in horizontal (analog) mode, and later in vertical
(digital) mode.

(1963)

(Boeing-727)

February 9, 1963 - The first
Boeing-727, (190 passengers), the world's 2nd most successful jet
airliner built, a three engine jet of short/medium
range first flew, was certificated in December, and entered scheduled airline
service with Eastern Airlines in 1964. By
1988, U.S. air carriers were
operating 1,246 B-727s.

The B-727 was the first rear-engine Trijet configuration, giving
redundancy of three engines for better climb performance and improved
operating economics over a four-engine jet. It was designed for short-haul
routes and is capable of operating out of restricted length runways at
smaller airports.

This Trijet features 3 Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines at the rear
section of the aircraft, along with a T-tail. One engine mounted on either
side of the rear fuselage, and a center-installed engine connecting
through an S-duct to an air inlet mounted at the junction of the tail and
upper fuselage.

The B-727 first entered service with Eastern Airlines in
1964. A stretched version, B-727-200, was also later
produced. For over a decade, more B-727's were built than any other
jet airliner. A total of 1,832 B727's were built when production
ended in 1984 for a sales record for the most jet airliners ever sold.
(Note: That sales record was broken with the introduction of the newer,
twin-engine B-737's in the 1990s.)

Boeing B-727 accidents and incidents. An "aviation incident" is an occurrence,
other than an accident, which affects or could affect the safety of
operations. As of 2010 the B-727 was involved in a total of 325
incidents.

A "hull-loss"
accident is one in which the damage to the aircraft is such that it must
be written off, or in which the plane is completely destroyed. As of 2010
the B-727 was involved in a total of 112 hull-loss accidents. The
combined incidents, and hull-loss accidents resulted in a total of 3,783
fatalities. The B-727 has also been involved in 178 world-wide
hijackings involving 345 fatalities.

The first of many notable B-727
accidents occurred on August 16, 1965
When a United B-727 crashed into Lake Michigan 30 miles east of
Chicago O'Hare Airport.

Comments in our guestbook from a B-727
pilot with over 14,000 hours in the B-727 for Eastern
Airlines:

"...the crashes of the B-727
were not related to 'falling out of the sky' (as newspapers of the
day incorrectly stated , due to 'High Sink Rate")... but rather
pilot error.

The Boeing-727 was a very
reliable and pleasant plane to fly, however the 'spool-up' for those
engines was a very well-known characteristic... One of the reasons
the B-727 had the high-drag flap arrangement was that it
enabled the pilot to have the engines spooled up ready for a fast
acceleration to full power if needed."

February 12, 1963 -
-Miami, FL

February 12,
1963 - Miami, FL -
Northwest B-720
crashed after penetrating a severe thunderstorm cell. While attempting to
pull out of a turbulence-induced dive, the aircraft broke apart due to
excessive G-forces. The B-720 has a tendency to 'weathervane' into wind
gusts. When the initial updraft caught the aircraft, it would nose down
into the gust. The pilot pulled up which actually worsened the situation.
The same effect worked in the downdraft which followed. Full up-elevator
was used in the recovery attempt, full nose-down trim was still wound in
from the prior encounter with the updraft. Boeing tests showed that
recovery from the dive in this condition beyond 320kts is not possible.
(43 Fatalities)

In
a concerted effort of the entire aviation community, The FAA
initiated a program for educating pilots of the potential hazards of
turbulence. The FAA issued many safety bulletins dealing with
piloting technique and aircraft characteristics regarding turbulence. The
FAA inspectors were tasked to insure that proper attention to this
problem was addressed in airline training programs.

The FAA also
required the aviation industry to develop improved attitude indicators,
and aircraft manufacturers wrote improved rough air penetration techniques
including restricted nose down electric stabilizer trim limits to reduce
the likelihood of serious out-of-trim conditions.

Additionally, the FAA urged the aviation industry to develop improved
flight simulators that can more realistically duplicate aircraft motions
and rough air penetrations, and require their use in initial and recurrent
flight training programs.

March 5, 1963 -
-Tennessee

March
5, 1963 - Camden, TN - Country Western singer Patsy Cline, 30, Hawkshaw Hawkins,
39, Cowboy Copas, 49, and Cline's manager Randy Hughes were all killed when
a chartered Piper Comanche flew into a storm and crashed. The pilot did
not have an instrument rating.

"Your Cheatin' Heart"
"Have You Ever Been Lonely"
"Heartaches" "Crazy"
"Faded Love"
"Fall to
Pieces"
"3 Cigarettes In An Ashtray"
"I Love You So Much It Hurts Me"

June 3, 1963 -
-Pacific Ocean

June
3, 1963 - Pacific Ocean - A Northwest
Airlines
DC-7 crashed into the Pacific Ocean on a flight from Seattle to
Anchorage, Alaska.
(101 Fatalities)

The DC-7 was chartered by the Military Air Transport Service to
carry 95 servicemen and their families from McChord AFB in Washington to
Elmendorf AFB in Alaska. wreckage was recovered west of Annette Island,
Alaska, but none of the bodies of the crew or passengers were ever
recovered.

A large number of recovered adult life vests still in their plastic
containers indicated that there was insufficient time to alert the
passengers to prepare for a water landing, or they were unable to take
appropriate action due to unusual aircraft attitudes.

Fragmentation of the aircraft indicates that the DC-7 struck the
water at a high speed and the damage to the seat backs shows forces
applied to the top of the seat indicating that the airplane fuselage
struck the water nearly inverted. The concentration of the observed
wreckage and the failure to find any floating wreckage outside that
general area shows that the aircraft was probably intact at impact.

Because of a lack of evidence, the NTSB was unable to determine the
probable cause of this accident.

AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTERS - (ARTCC's)

LOS ANGELES ARTCC was commissioned in 1937 and
moved to Palmdale, CA in 1963

November
22, 1963 - President John
F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas and was succeeded by Lyndon
B. Johnson.

December 8, 1963 -
- Maryland

December 8,
1963 - Pan AmB-707 crashes over Elkton, MD. The B-707 was
in a holding patter awaiting an instrument approach to the Philadelphia
International Airport when it was struck by
lightning resulting in an explosion and destruction of the aircraft. A
large portion of the left wing separated in flight and the aircraft
crashed in flames.
(81 Fatalities)

The probable
cause was lightning induced ignition of fuel/air mixture in the No. 1
reserve fuel tank with resultant explosive disintegration of the left
outer wing and loss of control. A "MAYDAY"
transmission was heard from the flight, and shortly thereafter, the pilot
of another aircraft broadcasted that "Clipper
214 is going down in flames."

The
FAA, working with the aviation and petroleum industries, developed a
solution to the lightning problem applicable to all aircraft in service as
well as new aircraft. Lightning static discharge wicks were then installed
on all commercial jet liners.

Visibility was good with light rain and
calm winds. Investigation concluded the the plane crashed due to
degradation of aircraft stability characteristics in turbulence, because
of abnormal longitudinal trim component positions.

During the climb the elevator moved to 2 degrees and the airplane nose
down, which is an abnormal flight condition. Climbing in clouds
through 4,000', the DC-8 encountered moderate and probably severe
wind shear turbulence. Control was lost and the airplane struck the
surface of the lake at a dive angle in excess of 20 degrees. A possible
factor was the attitude indicator which was small with a solid black
background and difficult to interpret at night.

Reno
to San Francisco
- Skyjacking

May
7, 1964 - A passenger shot the captain
and first officer of a Pacific Air Lines twin-engine turboprop Fairchild
Fokker F-27 enroute from Reno, NV to San Francisco, CA. The
aircraft crashed near San Ramon, CA. (44 fatalities).

The FBI found that
when the passenger left SFO for Reno the day before, he was carrying the
Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver and that he had purchased $100,000
worth of life insurance at the airport, payable to his wife.
(Murder/Suicide)

Interesting to note that one of the 3 daughters of the
murdered Captain of Pacific Air Lines, and orphaned at the age of 15 by
her father's death, became a commercial airline pilot for Northwest
Airlines. The co-pilot's only son, and 4th child, attended the Air Force
Academy and flew for Alaska Airlines.

June 30, 1964 - FAA begins a research
and development on the automation of Air Traffic Control (called National
Airspace System - NAS En route Stage A) at its 20 en route
centers. The first installation was at the Jacksonville Center.

July 31, 1964 -
- Nashville, TN

July
31, 1964 - Country Western singer 'Travis'
Jim Reeves, 40, died in a
Beechcraft-25 Debonair, which Jim was piloting. He flew into an area of
thunderstorms and crashed in woods 10 miles south of Nashville, TN. It
took 2 days to find the wreckage in the dense forest. His manager was also
killed.

"I Fall to Pieces"
"Now and Then There's A Fool Such As I"
"Am I Losing You"
"A Fallen Star"
"Adios Amigos"
"One Dozen Roses"
"Am I That Easy To Forget"
"Have I Told You Lately That I Love You"
"Welcome to My World "